Dylan Groenewegen was interviewed on Dutch television yesterday about the crash involving Fabio Jakobsen at the Tour de Pologne.
The Jumbo Visma rider was in tears and clearly very
distressed as he explained how sorry he was for the crash and about how he hoped
Jakobsen could fully recover.
His team has said it was supporting him and his family –
his wife is in the early stages of pregnancy at present – through what it is a
difficult period for them mentally.
However, the team has still pulled him from races pending
the outcome of a UCI disciplinary sanction. And before that investigation was
even begun, the UCI issued a statement blaming Groenewegen for the crash but failing
to mention any inquiry into the finish set-up or the race organisation.
A number of talking points arise from the crash, some of which we will go through in this piece.
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Groenewegen’s sprint
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A couple of things are clear about the sprint; Groenewegen moved off his line significantly. And when his movement narrowed the gap for Jakobsen to squeeze past him, Groenewegen then also put his elbow out; apparently as a last blocking mechanism to ensure Jakobsen couldn’t pip him on the line. However, Groenewegen’s movement was not sudden and erratic. Instead, he moved too far. And while the movement of his elbow was followed by devastating consequences, it was reasonably subtle. While he clearly caused this crash – without any question – we have seen much worse examples of dangerous sprinting in pro cycling. That doesn’t mean it’s OK for a sprinter to cause a crash. However, while Groenewegen closed the door on Jakobsen and caused him to crash, the UCI don’t normally issue statements condemning the rider and their teams don’t normally suspended them. Groenewegen is not in such serious trouble because he caused a crash. He now faces serious consequences because of the nature of the crash; because it was so horrific. But is he to blame for that?
Race organisation’s finish set-up
Two things happened in the Polish crash. Firstly, Groenewegen’s sprinting caused the crash. Secondly, the finish line set-up ensured the crash became a devastating one. The barriers offered no protection to Jakobsen. And when he crashed through them, the barriers and the advertising hoarding then became missiles that fired into the bunch ensuring other riders came down. Many reports have stated Jakobsen was travelling at 53 miles per hour on the downhill sprint at the moment of impact. Once a rider falls at that speed, they are going to be seriously injured. Extreme road rash is guaranteed and it’s very likely there will be broken bones. However, the barriers should not have moved when Jakobsen hit them. He should have bounced off them in the way Mark Cavendish did in the infamous crash at the Tour de France three years ago with Peter Sagan. In that case, neither the barriers nor the advertising hoarding on them moved; they stayed locked in place. Cavendish bounced off the barriers into the road, crashed hard and others also came down. But nobody flew off the road and ended up in a coma as a result. There was a very significant failure of the finish set-up in Poland that ensured once the crash occurred, it became devastating. Groenewegen is not responsible for that. If the barriers had done their job, Groenewegen would still be to blame for a bad crash – but one which would have remained in the road. The reason this became one of the worst incidents we’ve seen in pro cycling in the modern era was because the safety features erected on the finishing straight failed. Jakobsen’s helmet appears to have shot off his head on impact; which worsened the outcome. But when a rider crashes through safety barriers and head-first into the upright scaffolding holding the finish line gantry in place, serious questions must be asked about the finish set-up. In this case, the race organisation’s finish line safety features not only failed Jakobsen, they then fired into the road and took others down. Serious questions arise from this and it is wrong to put all the blame on the rider who caused the crash. When crashes like this have happened on other races, the barriers have held firm. The Tour de Pologne needs to be quizzed by cycling’s authorities on why its set-up failed. It should also be obliged to show what changes are being made to ensure the same thing does not happen again.
UCI’s (lack of) response
Its statement in the immediate aftermath of the crash was a curious one. It said it “strongly condemns the dangerous behaviour of rider Dylan Groenewegen, who sent Fabio Jakobsen into the barriers a few metres from the finish, causing a collective crash at the end of the first stage of the Tour of Poland”. It added it had sent the incident to the “disciplinary commission to request the imposition of sanctions commensurate with the seriousness of the facts”. No mention was made of how the finish line set-up failed or even that it would be reviewed. This is a significant oversight, to put it mildly, on the part of the UCI and it’s one that means the clear failings of the safety features will go unchecked. As a result, the likelihood of the same thing happening again – safety features folding like a deck of cards and worsening a bad crash – is not reduced. The approach of the UCI is to punish a rider whose sprinting caused the beginning of a devastating chain of events, but to stop short of interrogating the other contributing factors so rider safety would be improved going forward.
Robbie McEwan
The Australian former top sprinter commented on the crash to cyclingnews, saying he had been in situations where he’d been pinned against barriers and had fallen and other incidents where he’d caused a crashed and been disqualified. He added sprinters should close the door just enough to stop a rider passing, but not enough so a crash is caused. McEwan explained it was a fine line to get the balance right in a sprint and that Groenewegen had simply miscalculated; that he was to blame, but caused the crash through error rather than malice or very dangerous sprinting. It’s hard to argue with that. McEwan also pointed to the barriers giving way, and then turning into missiles as a huge issue and one that the race organisers and UCI needed to get on top of. He added: “What was most disturbing to me was that when Fabio Jakobsen hit the barriers, he didn’t deflect back into the road. He went straight through them. That’s really poor planning, not just from the organisers themselves but the UCI, and they have to take responsibility for that.” McEwan said he had put forward a barrier design – heavy barriers that would not move and would “deflect” a rider back into the road – and never got a reply from the UCI.
Next steps
Groenewegen broke his collarbone in the crash and so will
be out of action for a number of weeks. Added to that, his team has said it
will not pick him for any races until after the UCI hands down a sanction. It
appears the UCI will impose a penalty and Jumbo Visma may also impose a
penalty. In time, Groenewegen will return to racing. And hopefully Jakobsen can
come back to the sport; soon and at the same level. At present, there is no
mention of investigating the crash or performing a review of finish-straight
safety. However, the reality is that the finish line set-up intended to make
everyone safer, did the opposite. It ensured the crash inflicted maximum damage
on everyone. The case for the UCI investigating that is overwhelming.
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